Janis Johnson
Research/Focus Areas
  • Decolonization in contemporary Native American literature and communities
  • Native Americans in popular music
  • Native American film
  • Historical trauma and healing in Native literatures and communities
  • Environmental justice
  • Ethnic American literature and expressive culture
My Courses
  • English 483: African American Literature
  • English 484: American Indian Literature
  • AIST 320, Celluloid Indians: Native Americans In Popular Film
  • English 380, Into to U.S. Ethnic Literature
  • AmSt 201: Introduction to Ethnic Studies
  • CORE 171: Shared Places: An Introduction to Tribal Histories and Cultures
  • English 504: Historical Trauma and Healing in Native Literatures and Communities,

Janis Johnson

College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences
Department of English
Assistant Professor

Home Town
Lewiston, Idaho

With UI Since
2002
Office: Brink Hall 224
Phone: (208) 885-7743
Email: janjohn@uidaho.edu
Mailing Address:
English Department - University of Idaho
P.O. Box 441102
Moscow, Idaho 83844-1102

English 380
English 483
English 484
English 504
CORE 171
AmSt 201
AIST 320
SapatqaynCinema
Janis Johnson's CV
  • Ph.D., Tulane University, American Literature, Post-Colonial Theory (1999)
  • B.A., with honors, University of Washington (1990)

Janis Johnson was born and raised in Lewiston, Idaho. After working as a professional musician for several years, she attended the University of Washington to study American ethnic literature, and then moved to New Orleans to attend graduate school at Tulane University. After twelve years in New Orleans, she moved back to Idaho to teach at the University of Idaho, where opportunities for research and service are abundant for her. When not working, she is swimming, hiking, biking, or visiting a city to hear music, dance, or watch a play.



RECENT PUBLICATIONS
  • “When Indians Stop Vanishing: A Red Reading of Phil George’s Kautsa and Robert Penn Warren’s Chief Joseph,” under consideration.
  • “Healing the Soul Wound in Sherman Alexie’s Flight and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” in Sherman Alexie: A Critical Collection, Jeff Berglund and Jan Roush, Eds., University of Utah Press, forthcoming, 2009.
  • "Performing Indianness and Excellence: Nez Perce Jazz Bands of the Twentieth Century," in American Indian Performing Arts: Critical Directions, UCLA Press, forthcoming, 2009.
  • “Debra Magpie Earling: Facing Down Violence, Re-mythologizing Family and Tribe,” in Expanding the Indigenous Literary Canon, Debra K. Barker and Connie Jacobs, Eds., forthcoming.
  • “Saving the Salmon, Saving the People: Environmental Justice and Columbia River Tribal Literatures.” The Environmental Justice Reader: Politics, Poetics, and Pedagogy, Joni Adamson, Mei Mei Evans and Rachel Stein, Eds., University of Arizona Press 2002.


OUTREACH

  • Producer, for the American Indian Studies Program, Sapatq’ayn Cinema, the University of Idaho’s annual Native American Film Festival. 2009 marked our 7th festival. See www.uidaho.edu/SapatqaynCinema. Moscow, Idaho.
  • Co-coordinator of the University of Idaho’s participation in the Nez Perce Tribe’s Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Events, 2004-2006. Moscow, Idaho.


CURRENT RESEARCH

  • Book Project: Indigenous Pop: co-editor with Jeff Berglund and Kimberli Lee. A collection of critical essays on indigenous popular music expression, including jazz, country & western, rockabilly, rock, folk, reggae, hip hop and punk. In progress.
  • Nez Perce tribal jazz bands of the 20th Century. Idaho, Washington, Oregon. The Nez Perce tribe produced several popular dance bands from 1900 to the 1950s which both asserted their members’ identity as modern Americans fully involved in the creation of popular culture, and as distinctly Nez Perce people.